Michael Rooker

An imposingly-built character actor who specialized in intense, often dangerous characters on both sides of the law, Michael Rooker rose to prominence in the late 1980s as a psychotic serial killer in...
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Assessing the Geek Cred of the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Cast

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
A familiar face will be cruising through Marvel's cinematic galaxy come this August. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has confirmed that the one and only Nathan Fillion will appear in the upcoming space adventure in a "very small fun cameo." While earlier rumors suggested that Fillion might play a bigger role in the film, Gunn set the record straight via his Twitter account last night. With Fillion's addition the cast, Guardians of the Galaxy is looking like it might be the most geek-friendly film of the decade. In light of the good news, we've decided to assess to geek cred of every major cast member in the film.
Nathan Fillion
Relevant Projects: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Serenity, Dr. Horrible's Ding-Along Blog, Justice League Unlimited, that one episode of Lost Geek Cred: Through his frequent collaborations with nerd Jesus Joss Whedon, including a guest-stint on the last season of Buffy and a leading role in the cult sci-fi western Firefly, Fillion has built up an incredibly loyal legion of fans. Even 10 years after it's cancelation, some of the more deluded browncoats out there still believe there's a chance Firefly can somehow become un-cancelled. Now, there's some credibility for you.Rating: 5 out of 5
Chris PrattRelevant Projects: Jennifer's Body, Wanted Geek Cred: Pratt doesn't have a whole lot of nerd fodder to his name, but appearances in the comic book film Wanted and the underappreciated horror comedy Jennifer's Body to give him a decent boost. Rating: 3 out of 5
Zoe Saldana
Relevant Projects: Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Avatar, The LosersGeek Cred: Saldana has a prominent role in the newest chain of Star Trek film, though that might boost or diminish her cred, depending on who you talk to. There are similarly mixed feelings about her other two genre pictures, Avatar and The Losers.Rating: 3 out of 5
Dave Batista
Relevant Projects: The Man with the Iron Firsts, RiddickGeek Cred: Batista has spent more time wrestling than appearing in movies so most geeks probably aren't familiar with their new Drax the Destroyer. He did have a role in the latest Riddick sequel, but was overshadowed by Vin Diesel. (More on him later)Rating: 2 out of 5
Bradley Cooper
Relevant Projects: AliasGeek Cred: Unfortunately, Bradley Cooper doesn't have the most geek friendly filmography as of yet, but his role as Rocket Raccoon should change that quite soon. Geeks might remember him in Alias, but even in the J.J. Abrams show, he wasn't the one doing the cool spy stuff.Rating: 2 out of 5
Karen Gillan
Relevant Projects: Doctor Who, Outcast, OculusGeek Cred: Huge! Gillan three-year stint on the British import Doctor Who was almost perfectly timed with the show's explosion in popularity in the states.Rating: 4 out of 5
Djimon Hounsou
Relevant Projects: Stargate, Alias, EragonGeek Cred: Not very high. Hounsou has enjoyed small roles in things like Stargate, Alias, and Eragon, but noting really major for geeks to really get to know the actor.Rating: 2 out of 5
John C. Reilly
Relevant Projects: Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, Wreck-it Ralph, everything Tim and EricGeek Cred: Reilly doesn't have a huge backlog of geeky things on his resume, but Wreck-It Ralph and his work in the absurdly wonderful world of Tim and Eric does give him some clout to work with.Rating: 3 out of 5
Glenn Close
Relevant Projects: Mars Attacks!Geek Cred: Despite being a A-lister in Hollywood, Close has mostly steered clear of genre pictures, though her appearance in Mars Attacks! does give her something.Rating: 1 out of 5
Michael Rooker
Relevant Projects: The 6th Day, Slither, Stargate SG-1, Chuck, The Walking DeadGeek Cred: Rooker's cred skyrocketed with his role as Merle on The Walking Dead, but the longtime character actor has stealthily built up quite the geeky filmography over the years with appeareances in shows like Chuck and Archer.Rating: 4 out of 5
Benicio Del Toro
Relevant Projects: Sin City, The Wolfman, Thor: The Dark WorldGeek Cred: Fans recieved a snapshot of Del Toro's "The Collector" character in the end credits stinger for Thor: The Dark World, but beyond that, the actor's geek cred is pretty slim.Rating: 2 out of 5
Vin Diesel
Relevant Projects: All the Riddick moviesGeek Cred: Huge. Even outside of his career, Diesel is a well-documented geek and enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons on his off-time. He has also developed a good relationship with fans, appearing in video game adaptations of his Riddick films, and even putting up his own money to fund the 2013's Riddick.Rating: 5 out of 5
Lee Pace
Relevant Projects: The Fall, the Hobbit moviesGeek Cred: Pace has impressed in the last two Hobbit films, but he doesn't quite have the same history as some of his cast members.Rating: 2 out of 5
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Proving once again that Marvel Studios is as concerned with the caliber of its acting talent as it is big-budgeted CGI effects and action scenes, the studio is reportedly looking to cast John C. Reilly in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, according to Hitfix. The website reports that Reilly is being courted to play Rhomann Dey, who in the Guardians comics was an alien from the planet Xandar, but here may be reconfigured as a Phil Coulson-style S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
Sources say that Reilly's Dey would be "the primary face of normal humanity in the Guardians film." Basically, his character will serve as an intermediary between the Guardians team and S.H.I.E.L.D., so expect to see him in a black suit and straight-laced form — as straight-laced as John C. Reilly can be, anyway. We wonder, though, how much a representative of "normal humanity" anyone with the name Rhomann Dey could be. Still, with Reilly's possible casting, he'd join a roster that already includes Chris Pratt, geek queen Zoe Saldana, and The Walking Dead's Michael Rooker... making this the nerdiest movie of all time.
Representatives for Marvel and Reilly could not immediately be reached for comment.
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter@Ctblauvelt | Follow Hollywood.com on Twitter@Hollywood_com
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Want to do a simple test to see which of your friends are gigantic nerds? Post this sentence on your Facebook feed. "Michael Rooker is going to play Yondu!" Everyone who likes it is a Big Bang Theory-loving, Comic Con attending, Ain't It Cool News commenter account-having dork.
See, only those obsessed with the sort of pop culture a certain subset of the world is into would know that Michael Rooker was recently dispatched from his role as vile one-handed zombie killer Merle on The Walking Dead and that Yondu is one of the characters in Marvel's upcoming movie Guardians of the Galaxy. Now that I broke it down, that all makes much more sense, don't you think? Though it is a huge show and a big-studio movie it still doesn't really resonate though.
That's what's kind of crazy about Guardians of the Galaxy. It is the nerdiest, most niche project in the whole world. Consider this sentence from Dateline's casting announcement. "[Rooker] will play Yondu, who in Marvel lore was a game hunter of a primitive tribe native to Centauri IV, the first planet system to be colonized outside of the Sun’s solar system." What? Is that even English? I've read the past three iterations of the Guardians of the Galaxy comic book and I don't even know what that means.
Yondu, however, is a really cool character. Smart and powerful, he has a giant red mohawk and is an archer. Of course. Everything has an archer in it these days. Thanks, Katniss. There's even one on Walking Dead. But does Merle's brother Daryl have arrows that return to him when he whistles? Of course not!
See, I know that and I am a class-A nerd. But what about everyone else out there in the movie-buying public? Do they want to go to see a blockbuster writen by a funny superfan based on an obscure comic starring a second-string player on a low-rated cable comedy (Chris Pratt), a WWE wrestler (Dave Bautista), and (possibly) the woman from the new Star Trek movies (Zoe Saldana)? Everything is so hyper specific to certain mass consumers of culture that it doesn't seem like it would translate to mass success. Unless Marvel is pulling the most genius move ever and every fandom (comic geeks, Parks &amp; Recreation comedy snobs, Trekkers, Walking Dead heads, whatever WWE fans call themselves) will have a reason to show up and this thing will make $176 billion dollars. Maybe going after every single nerd in their individual fiefdom means you attract everyone on the planet.
Going geeky is the new mass audience! Get into it.
Follow Brian Moylan on Twitter @BrianJMoylan
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If there was ever a time when crying over the death of a beloved TV character was considered weird or socially inappropriate, that time has long since passed. For years we've let these people into our homes, and when they are yanked out of this world in a brutal or a moving fashion, it affects us. Our tear ducts, mostly.
Sunday night on The Walking Dead, a character was killed after they finally tried to do something heroic, and the fallout from that death may irreparably damage another member of the group. It was brutal, unexpected, and very strangely moving (considering the past behavior of the deceased). So, without further ado, here is last night's death... and 16 more that caused serious damage to our tissue box.
Follow Shaunna on Twitter @HWShaunna
[Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC]
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There comes a time in every B-character on a violent show's life where he or she has to face the reaper. Sometimes that death is sudden, quick, and painless — like Omar from The Wire, or T-Dogg. It's the audience and that character's loved ones who are in pain, not the deceased. They were given a mercifully quick goodnight. Then, sometimes, the character (and the audience) is tortured with a painful, slow, and untimely demise — like Adrianna La Cerva's, or that horrible death on Sons of Anarchy last season. (I'm only spoiling shows that are more than a year old. Come on, people! Watch more TV!) They knew that they were going to die, and spent their final moments in terror. It's awful for them to experience, and it's awful for us to watch.
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But sometimes, a character gets to go out in a badass blaze of glory that renders a show's audience unable to sleep (thanks, guys), and leaves a mark on TV history that will never be forgotten — largely due to galleries on websites like this one. I'm talking Dualla from Battlestar Galactica's "perfect day" suicide, Lane Pryce's resignation, that awful riverside demise on Breaking Bad last year, and now, Merle Dixon's suicide attack on Woodbury. It was horrifying, it was unexpected, and most importantly, it made Daryl cry. If only he had seen the mercy his big brother showed Michonne before he made his final choice. If only.
One of the great things about it was, NO ONE saw this coming at the beginning of the episode. If you can honestly tell me that you foresaw this turn of events, then I hate you because you're a liar. I truthfully thought that this episode might be another exhausting mental trip for Rick Grimes, like circa early Season 2 — where he'd spend a whole hour debating whether or not taking a life was worth the risk. Waaaaahhhh. I mean, he did sort of do that, but silently. And he had Daryl, Hershel, and even (sort of) Merle telling him that trading Michonne was a stupid idea. So, that trade was never going to happen.
See, thanks to that God that Hershel was praying to, we were treated to a Merle figuring his s**t out episode, and he ultimately figured out that while there wasn't a true place for him in this world due to his own choices and behavior, he could finally get one thing right. (Oh, and for the record, Hershel was reading Psalm 91:7, which says in a nutshell that God will keep you safe while everyone else is dying around you. I know that they are a religious family, but given the current circumstances, I wouldn't find those particular verses to be very comforting. Maybe something from Revelations, Dad?)
So Merle kidnapped Michonne (and her sword), unbeknownst to the rest of the Grimes Gang, even though he seemed sort of not cool with the arrangement when Rick first brought it up. "He ain't gonna kill her, you know," Merle said to that crazy cowboy who sees things. "He's just gonna… do stuff to her." Ick. Ick, but he's totally right. "You're cold as ice, Officer Friendly," he continued. I think that's what did it for Rick — his little chat with Merle confirmed that A, the Governor was a total liar and B, Rick would be completely to blame for whatever happened to Michonne. A Grimes Man cannot live with that sort of thing on his conscience. A Dixon man? Maybe. I mean, that's why Rick asked him in the first place. It's not a Glenn errand, ya know? (Aside: Any Justified fans out there? Because a conversation between Merle Dixon and Walton Goggins' Boyd Crowder would be THE BEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN. To make myself feel better, I will spend the rest of my night writing fan fiction that centers around Boyd and Merle chatting at a bar.)
And this latter point — the fact that Merle was and always would be the guy to "take out the trash" — seems to be what finally drove Merle to let Michonne go. I mean, I personally was shocked — I didn't think her "trash talking" would ultimately get to him, but everything that she sad was true. The Governor never saw Merle as a friend. He never even semi-respected him, like a Milton and maybe even a Martinez. Even though Merle had never actually killed anyone before the apocalypse — which proves that he was never actually a HORRIBLE guy, just that asshole you warn all of your friends about when you are forced to invite them to a barbecue — the Governor had made him his mercenary, and had him kill a whopping 16 people before his prison break.
GALLERY: TV's 16 Most Moving Deaths
That's a pretty crappy job: the guy who takes people "out on runs" to slit their throats, because they had become a nuisance to the Governor. (No bullets: those were not to be wasted on unimportant people.) And now, he was doing the same exact thing for Rick Grimes. His "no balls" (his words) little brother had become a beloved and leading member of a family, and he was just... there. A nuisance. The guy you would only talk to when you needed some dirty work done. I bet before the apocalypse Merle was that guy that everyone had in their phones as a total last resort when they REALLY needed weed or meth or adderall or coke or whatever. They would literally text everyone else on their contact list first, then Merle if nobody else was available. Then they'd meet up with Merle and he'd be lonely and alone and want to "party" with them and they'd regret ever going there in the first place. Yeah, Merle was totally that guy. And now, in a zombie apocalypse — a time when even Glenn the Pizza Boy could rise up and become a hero-slash-romantic-lead — Merle was still playing the same thankless role.
So the great Merle Dixon stood up and said, "Nevermore!" (Oh wait, no, this isn't The Following. Thank God.) Life was sh***y, and even though he would never fit in anywhere, he knew who the good guys and who the bad guys were. When Rick asked him, "Do you even know why you do the things you do? The choices you make?" at the beginning of the episode, he had no answer. But now, with this one choice, he had an answer: He was doing it for the people, Goddammit! Now he would drink some fine southern whiskey, blast some hard rock, and lead a bunch of Walkers to The Governor and his new favorite trash-taker-outer, Martinez — oh, and his own grave, of course. While neither of those horrible men died, a whole bunch of the rest of them did, and every Woodbury man down is a good thing for the Grimes Gang, who are SEVERELY outnumbered. An early RIP to you, Hershel, Beth, and probably Carol.
As soon as Merle did this one heroic thing we all knew he was a goner, but little did we know how horrifying it would be. The Governor and his cronies beat him half to death, then we saw the Governor's gun go off. Sad, we thought. Very sad. But at the very least, Merle was now in a better place. So many mattresses with drugs in them, we thought. A real party.
BUT OH NO HE WASN'T! Minutes later, the younger Dixon — the hot one, as they (me) say — was forced to do what Morgan and Carl and Andrea and so many before him had to: Kill his zombie-fied loved one. I mean, OF COURSE The Governor wouldn't grant Merle a "kind" exit from this world with a bullet to the brain. That man likes to cause as much pain as humanly possible. So then, the younger Dixon cried, and the world cried with him. Yes, this younger Dixon might be better off without his big brother, but he was still family. And now, he'd have to live with the fact that his brother died to save him and his people. Which, I think, is actually a lot better than Merle dying while giving up Michonne.
Daryl repeatedly stabbing Merle in the brains while sobbing is an image that won't go away for quite some time. Merle's death was powerful. It was haunting. It was the kind of death that a Dixon man deserves. We were promised "27 deaths" in next week's finale, and I'm truly glad that Merle's inevitable one was given the time and care that it deserved. Kudos to The Walking Dead writers for making me cry/gasp/run to the wine store before it closed because I can't handle this s**t. Please see below:
Now, before we all go to bed we have to talk about the other things that happened in this episode. Mainly, that Glenn and Maggie "got engaged" and Rick gave a Braveheart-esque battle speech to the Grimes Gang to lead us into the finale. The former was great only because we needed some happiness peppered into this tragic tale, and hearing Hershel give a clearly nervous Glenn his permission was just lovely. Glenn "ring shopping" via chopping the fingers off the female Walkers outside of the prison offered another jolt of reality, but it's nice to occasionally get lost in Glenn and Maggie's (probably) doomed love affair in the midst of so much violence.
Now, my colleague was not happy with the manner in which Glenn proposed. "You gotta say the words dude," she said. I personally was okay with it. Glenn has told Maggie what she means to him several times throughout their romance, and their quiet moment together before next week's battle royale was lovely. Real life calls for a real proposal, but they're not living a real life. They're marching towards death way quicker than you or I (fingers crossed), and they both know it. He can't do the thing where he promises her a beautiful life together with children and vacation days and central air and HBO, because there's a good chance that they'll die tomorrow. So he just handed her this ring, as a symbol of how much she meant to him. Sometimes, silence speaks loud and clear. Like when a guy suddenly stops texting you back, or when Glenn proposes to Maggie before they take on a mad man and his heavily armed village.
Now let's move to to Rick, who figured out pretty early on that turning Michonne in was not the right call. When Merle said in his Merle way that it was a bad idea, and told him that it was basically the same as Merle turning Glenn and Maggie in to the Governor, he realized that the Elder Dixon was right. So he spent the rest of the episode doing... stuff... until it came time to give a speech to the gang minus Daryl, who was busy bashing his dead brother's head in. "What we do, what we're willing to do, who we are… it's not my call," he said to the group. "I couldn't sacrifice one of us for the greater good, because we are the greater good. We're the reason we're still here. Not me." I guess his point was, in a world where death and chaos reigned supreme, they were going to be the Gang worth fighting for. The Justice League for the world without justice. They were only as good as the choices they made, and the choice to fight instead of giving up Michonne would at least allow them to sleep at night. Good for you, Grimes! He also saw Lori again, but let's just skip that part. We hate that part.
So with a "tonight we celebrate our Independence Day," that was that. Michonne was back with the group, Merle had headed off to that little redneck whiskey bar in the sky, and the Governor was STILL out for blood. We saw none of Woodbury or Andrea during this episode, but next week's horrifying slaughter should make up for that. Who will die? My bet: Milton, Carol, Hershel, Beth, and a bunch of other people we don't care about. MAYBE the Governor, but I wouldn't be surprised if he made it. Getting rid of Andrea would be a welcome mercy kill for the fans, but no. She will live forever.
What did you think of the episode, friends? Will you miss the Elder Dixon? When Daryl cried, did you? Do you think that each of Daryl's fallen tears will someday grow into a beautiful, magical tree that grants wishes for poor redneck children with honest, Daryl-esque souls? I sure do.
Follow Shaunna on Twitter @HWShaunna
[PHOTO CREDIT: AMC]
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For a second there (or 35 minutes), didn't it seem like we were going to get one of those slow-burning, dialogue and meaningful-gaze-heavy installments of The Walking Dead? When the episode began with a three-minute-long cold open of Rick staring at a vision of Lori in a wedding dress (something I still very much hate, but more on that later), and continued with Hershel dropping wisdom bombs on the Grimes Gang, I never suspected that it would end with the best, most nerve-wracking action sequence we've seen on the show thus far — much better than the raid of Woodbury we saw last fall. But TWD still manages to — time and again — completely knock my socks off, though I morbidly wanted someone else to die besides Axel, the last man standing from the cafeteria squad. Oh well.
Something else that surprised me: that we only had one episode of Merle and Daryl wandering the Southeast countryside before Daryl called it quits and ran right back to the prison gang. Luckily, we got to hear him shout "He's Korean!" in defiant response to Merle, who had inaccurately called Glenn Chinese, before their return. If Merle had a post-zombie-apocalypse Twitter account, his Tweets would show up on @YesYoureRacist for sure. But Merle doesn't have a Twitter account. That's absurd.
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But anyway, yes — we started with a long shot of Rick, who has completely lost it at this point, gazing out the gates at a vision of Sarah Wayne Callies in a gorgeous and very slimming (though she's already slim) old-fashioned wedding dress. Jesus.
One of the many reasons why the show killed Lori (besides the fact that she died in the comics) was that Lori was one part of the show that was not working. She was a boring and unlikeable character, who has since been replaced with much more likable ones (hi, Maggie). We enjoyed approximately four episodes without her before her return, in this ridiculous plot line that will hopefully end now that Rick is officially a general in the war against the Governor.
I'm okay with the fact that Rick — who has if not the weight of the world, then the weight of several good, innocent people on his arguably unqualified shoulders — losing his s***. I would have lost my s*** day one. I would have been holed up in my apartment with my cats and all of the drugs I was too smart to try back when I had hope, so I would be too high to know what was happening to me once the Walkers took over New York City and ate my face off. Or I would have shot myself once my TV shut off. Yes, that's exactly what I would have done. But Rick, as I've said before, needs to be a hero. And since so many people have died, many from Rick's own gun (or general bad decision making), he can't be the hero anymore.
No one except Daryl Dixon gets to be the hero in this universe, and Rick Grimes is no Daryl Dixon. He has too much doubt. He second-guesses his own decisions. So, yes, he's gone nuts. But we A, don't need Sarah Wayne Callies' bothersome presence to drill this obvious point in, and B, will go completely nuts with him if the show doesn't either turn him around or get really ballsy and kill him, because if I wanted to witness the slow, horrific mental deterioration of a formerly productive human being I'd re-read The Bell Jar. And guess what, AP high school English teacher? No one wants to re-read The Bell Jar.
But Rick, who probably isn't the book-reading type, wandered outside of the prison in a Lori-inspired daze for the entire episode anyway, until Hershel came outside to knock some sense into him and talk about how he was worried about Glenn. Maybe if Rick would worry about Glenn, it would knock him off his insanity path and give him something to do. But no. Rick wouldn't come back in and join the rest of the Grimes Gang, which was looking frighteningly pathetic for most of the episode.
Hershel, Beth, Maggie, Carl, Baby Asskicker, Carol the Flirtacious, Axel, and Ragey Glenn do not a formidable opponent make. That group would be dead in two days. But Rick would not come in and be their leader, because he was waiting for something. He couldn't tell Hershel what that something was, because even he didn't know. I personally think it was Godot. Luckily, it ended up being the Governor and a Kamikaze van full of walkers.
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Maybe it should have been obvious that the attack was coming, as Milton and the good (terrible) people of Woodbury would not tell Andrea where her lover had gone. Maybe that awkward interchange between Milton and Andrea should have told me something. But, thankfully, it didn't.
I'm glad that I was surprised. All I got from Woodbury was that the Governor seemed much more dangerously stable this week, and that he had it in him to kill Andrea, because he did not trust where her loyalties lied. I also thought that maybe, on his "hunt", he would run into the Dixon brothers. I forgot, as I said last week, that the entire American Southeast as presented on The Walking Dead is the same size as Disneyland. Or, sorry, Universal Studios. But despite the implausibility of the Gov finding their location that quickly, I'm happy that he did — Walking Dead has a good pace established now, and his attack will have lasting consequences.
Next: Daryl Meets Baby, Part 2
But before we get to that final bloodbath, let's talk about the episode's 3 hottest couples: Daryl and Merle, Glenn and Maggie, and (ugh) Carol and Axel. The Dixon brothers seemed to have gotten absolutely nowhere since last week, and of course they couldn't come to an agreement on which direction to run to, because there was absolutely nowhere to go.
Merle is a still a huge prick with a vendetta against the Grimes Gang, so he was thrilled to have the one on one time, largely because it was making Daryl miserable. Daryl was yearning for the exotic luxuries he found in the prison — food, a pot to piss in, and a lack of a homicidal mad man brother — and of course, Merle used Daryl's declaration of common sense as a chance to torture him for being a pussy.
Thankfully, finally, Daryl stood up to his Chris Brown: when Merle reminded him that (gasp) they were originally going to rob the Grimes Gang 1.0 back when they were in Atlanta, Daryl got fightin' mad. The boys started tusslin', and a fall revealed Daryl's lovely back muscles and several hideous scars from years of fatherly abuse. Merle was all, "I didn't know, bro" and Daryl was all "yes you did, that's why you left so you didn't have to face it," so this was basically like a 20-year overdue five minute long group therapy session in the woods, with a monumental breakthrough and our voyeuristic eyes acting as therapist. But (un?) fortunately, this was the end of In Treatment With the Dixon Brothers (until next week), because Daryl then heard the one sound he can never resist: a baby crying. With that, Daryl sprung into action.
A group of Mexican survivors with a baby were facing a walker attack on a bridge, and this group is completely doomed, because their versions of Rick and Daryl somehow haven't figured out yet that you need to shoot for the brain. Daryl came in with his crossbow and effortlessly killed the s*** out of every walker that crossed his path and saved the baby, but the TWD crew knows that there is such thing as too much of a good thing so they didn't have him hold this one.
Sorry, ladies. Merle ran in and wanted to rob the Mexicrew, but Saint Daryl of Dixon stopped him. They don't make em like that anymore ladies, emiright?
Daryl becoming a man in the Georgian woods was a big event, but Glenn and Maggie have even more psychological torment to work through. Maggie, who pre-Woodbury was very happy to act as one of the group's warriors, now seems to be digressing into a different role.
What the Governor did back at Woodbury humiliated her and diminished much of her inner strength — it's obvious to everyone who is watching (Beth, Glenn, Hershel), but she spent most of the episode acting like it was no big deal, and she just wanted to move past it. On the other end of the spectrum, Glenn had gone a bit mad with revenge, and just wouldn't let it go. He wanted to run to Woodbury, kill the Governor, and have everything back the way it was.
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But Maggie is a victim of sexual assault now, so it's going to be quite some time before things get back to the way they were (if ever, which is doubtful on this show). Glenn's intentions throughout the episode — mainly when he wanted her to talk about it, to find out once in for all what happened in that room — were by no means bad, or even unexpected.
He was hurt by the attack too, just in a completely different way — he loves Maggie and what happened to her is clearly making him feel powerless, but he's not the one who was sexually violated, so he's going to have to deal with Maggie's emotional process and back off a bit if it's going to work. Or maybe, since life in this universe is terrible and it's a blessing for Maggie to have him, she'll get over it and start shagging him in the water tower again. We'll see. Either way, rage-y Glenn took off to get the Governor, but his trip was tragically cut short.
Then there's Carol and Axel. I like Carol, I really do. I just think she's capable of more than they're giving her. All she's done so far is get beat up, freak out over a lost kid, mourn that lost kid, and pine over Daryl. Her flirtation with Axel was likely just a means for us to feel like Axel was finally becoming a member of the crew before his head was blown off — Mazzara, you tease! — but it still felt forced. I know they're in a "last man on Earth" sort of situation, but I in no way buy that Carol would be attracted to Axel, after she's already scolded him for hitting on Beth. Plus, Tyreese is single and just a cell block away. Think about your choices, Carol.
So Carol and Axel had this exchange about the adorable fake robbery that got Axel locked up and temporarily saved his life, then BAM — a shot through the head ended things for our mustachioed friend. The Governor and his merry band of mercenaries were outside the prison gates, with sniper guns and automatics and — well, I know nothing about guns, but they were loud and scary, and almost shot Rick in the head like five times.
This was the first shootout on Walking Deadin some time where I actually felt physically nervous, and thought that we'd lose a major character at the blink of an eye. It was well-shot and well-choreographed, and the fact that the Gov was taking on the dregs of the Gang — since Rick was bananas, Maggie was sad, and Glenn and Daryl were gone — had me terrified for these B-level Grimes Gang members.
Then things just got vicious, and the show once again showed us how much better the Governor is at war-plots than Rick Grimes. Rick spent the day chasing after a dead lady, the Governor put a hoard of Walkers into a van and had his man drive it through the gates to quite literally give em' hell.
The Gang did what they could, but Rick quickly ran out of ammo and was cornered by 3 walkers. Luckily, there's some sort of psychic bat signal that allows St. Daryl of Dixon to sense trouble from miles away, so he, Merle, and Michonne saved him from an inglorious death. Then Glenn drove back and killed a bunch of em' with Michonne and her glorious katana, and managed to drive back to the prison safely... just without Rick, Merle or Daryl. The Governor and his men had driven away (again, for now), but not without leaving a s***-ton of zombies between Rick, the Dixons, and safety.
And you know what? I'm okay with that. Because the official Walking Dead punishment for being lame and boring the 12-million-strong audience by walking around and talking to a ghost for half a season is time spent with Merle Dixon, the most un-killable guy in Georgia, the wettest of wet blankets, and star of Saw 17.
Follow Shaunna on Twitter @HWShaunna
[Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC (2)]
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First off, we can all now breathe that collective sigh of relief — after a three month hiatus from The Walking Dead, it has been confirmed that Daryl Dixon, exploder of ovaries (just ask him), lived through the "fight to the death" with Merle. Unfortunately, Merle did too. And now, #TheWalkingDixons are on a path through the Walker's Woods, away from the Grimes Gang and Woodbury, with no one to lean on but each other (which is rather unfortunate for Daryl, as no one wants to lean on Merle). What's next for the crossbow-wielding redneck heartthrob? A lot, according to actor Norman Reedus.
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"Daryl has it in him to just want [The Governor] dead," Reedus says. "Daryl is the type of guy that, when he gets his mind set on something, he's just going to make it happen. He's more than capable of having bouts of rage. I don't know that [the rage] would break him, but it would make him hell-bent on getting revenge."
Good! Because when the Governor (David Morrissey) put Daryl and Merle (Michael Rooker) in that death pit, it set in motion the events that would inevitably lead Daryl away from his Grimes Gang. But don't count on them being apart for long — Reedus makes it clear that, despite his actions during tonight's episode, Daryl's heart is still very much with the group.
"Daryl has become his own man, now," Reedus says. "He was destined to become another Merle. I've always played him like he was embarrassed about who he was going to be, and he was trapped in that world. This is [Daryl's] opportunity to become somebody new, in a way — he didn't plan on it, but having this world around him has given him a new sense of self-worth that he wouldn't have gotten otherwise. He's a different guy now."
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Which doesn't necessarily mean that he'll take over the group — even though Rick is bananagrams insane (did you see him talking to that zombie-fied invisible Lori?), Reedus says that Daryl is not quite ready to make that step. "Daryl doesn't want to take over the group," he says. "He doesn't want to take on that responsibility. He doesn't want to sit around and talk to people about their feelings, and make plans, and have that on his head."
But does Daryl want to do... you know... with Carol? After tonight's episode, her feelings are pretty clear. But Reedus doesn't feel that his character has enough game to make it happen. "If [Daryl and Carol] hook up, she's got to make the first move," he says. "I don't want to play that like, 'Hey babe, come here.' I'd rather play it like, 'What are you doing? Stop!' That'd be super interesting. All of the ovaries [would explode.]"
Err, let's take a step back. Because a moment before, Reedus and I had been talking about that infamous moment where he held baby Asskicker, which has become an Internet meme, and may or may not be my Twitter background. Reedus, who previously did not really understand the world of memes, and who largely relies on costar Chandler Riggs (Carl — the child) to help him out with technology, was surprised by all of the attention.
"People freak out when you hold a baby," he says. "I've seen a bunch of pictures of that — [women talking about] the ovaries exploding, and all that stuff." [Ed. note: Weird.] "The thing about that character is he wears his heart on his sleeve. He trusts people. The guy cares. He's never had an opportunity in his life to care before. I think that maybe that comes through, and that's why these so-called memes happen, and stuff like that… but, I don't know." [Ed. note: I think your biceps may also be involved.]
In conclusion, Reedus wanted me to relay that the second half of the season would continue at the breakneck pace of the first — in fact, he says things get even faster now that the Dixons have left the Grimes Gang. "It's a crazy ride," he says. "The rest of the season is mind-blowing, what we get away with. Hold on to your ovaries!"
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Um, gross. To get that image out of your head, or to stop your ovaries from exploding, we will leave you with one final plea from the man, the myth, the meme behind Daryl Dixon: Leave Carl alone!
"He's a kid, growing up in a zombie apocalypse," Reedus says. "Cut him some slack. We did that to like, Anna Nicole Smith. We hated her and made fun of her, and then she died. And it's like, 'Look like we did.' And I love Chandler. He helps me with my electronic stuff. I'm like, 'How do I get this app to work?' and he's 'Ugh, give me it.'"
Follow Shaunna on Twitter @HWShaunna
[PHOTO CREDIT: Tina Rowden/AMC]
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Last November, The Walking Dead left fans with the worst possible cliffhanger of all — fan favorite Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) was placed in a death ring alongside his beloved (a**hole) brother Merle (Michael Rooker), to fight to the — you get it, death. Without his crossbow. In front of the maniacal Governor, who had recently lost his eye and with it, what was left of his mind.
"It's not easy!" actress Lauren Cohan(Maggie) told Hollywood.com this week. "Our heartthrob is on the noose." He is indeed. And Sunday night, one Dixon brother will emerge victorious. In case you can't tell, we've officially chosen a side. So to distract ourselves (and you) until the big episode airs tomorrow night at 9, here's a brief recap of what went down this fall.
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Where We Left Off:Hm, where do we start? The Grimes Gang infiltrated Woodbury to rescue Glenn and Maggie, and were successful — kind of. Maggie had already been sexually assaulted, Glenn had become a man hellbent on vengeance, and the black guy died. Daryl was delighted to learn that his brother was still alive and well, but when Michonne went in for an attack on the Governor and killed his zombified daughter, all hell broke loose. Her former friend Andrea almost killed her, the Governor ended up with a giant shard of glass in his eye, and Daryl and Merle somehow ended up in the redneck ring, forced to fight to the death. So now, while Carl, Hershel, Beth, Carol, baby Asskicker, and the new black guy hang out in the prison, the rest of the gang remains at Woodbury at the start of the big battle.
Biggest Jaw-Dropper of the Fall: Um, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) had Maggie cut out her baby with a rusty old knife during a raid on the prison, then had her pre-teen son shoot her before she could become a Walker. That's kind of shocking. Oh, and then when Rick came in to survey the damage (Why, Rick? Why?) she'd already been eaten by another Biggest Loser-candidate Walker nearby. Memorieeessssss...
Biggest Let-Down of the Fall:This season has been a vast improvement over the second, so we can't think of many. But someone needs to get rid of Carl's stupid hat. Oh, and Judith's name should have stayed Asskicker, because Daryl is right about everything and Asskicker is a great name. And we'd like to see more of Michonne, since all she's done so far is scowl and not give away any of the useful information she has to the Grimes Gang.
Most Improved Character: Carl. Everyone gives that kid a hard time, but he's done impossible things that no human being, let alone child, should have to do. He stepped up when his father lost it, he's taken a leadership role in the group, and he doesn't stop to stare at stupid deer anymore.
Least Improved Character: Andrea, think about your life. Think about your choices.
Why You Should Keep Watching: Why wouldn't you? Everyone else will, so if you don't you'll be that person in the office shouting "no spoilers!" to the annoyance of all of your coworkers and everyone will hate you. Plus, Daryl is still on the show, for now, and he might hold a baby again. Plus plus, Tyreese and his prison gang should be a fun addition, and we can't imagine giving up on the show before Rick and the Governor have their final showdown. And if Daryl and Carol finally have sex, well... let's stop here because this sentence is about to get really inappropriate.
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What We Ultimately Want to See: The showdown! Also, Andrea's final reunite with the Grimes Gang should be epic, and we hope to see the raw emotional aftermath after Maggie's sexual assault — both from Maggie, and her beau Glenn. The show has taken on some real, human issues this season, and rape and horrific human-on-human violence are two unfortunately natural responses to turmoil and lack of authority. We hope they continue on this path, while keeping up the breakneck pace of the first have of the third season.
What Would Make us Turn Our Backs: I mean, no one would be happy if Daryl died. Just sayin'.
[PHOTO CREDIT: Tina Rowden/AMC]

The holidays are over. How to follow up the season of Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men? With zombie guts and gore, of course! AMC has released a new video promo touting the return of The Walking Dead on February 10. Sure, it shows a splatterific image of Michonne (Danai Gurira) slicing a walker's noggin in half, but the bloodiest show on TV this time seems a lot more interested in playing up the idea that the living can be more dangerous than the dead. When last we left off during December's midseason finale, the battle lines were starkly drawn between the prison gang, led by grief-stricken Rick (Andrew Lincoln), and the seemingly placid, actually fascist Woodbury, led by The Governor (David Morrissey). Check out the new promo, below, and also watch a new scene from the premiere, titled "The Suicide King," showing what happens after Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Merle (Michael Rooker), now branded a traitor, are thrown into the arena.
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt
[Photo Credit: AMC]
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Another dark and dreary Sunday night, another engaging, thought-provoking, and thrilling installment of The Walking Dead. (Seriously, what has happened to this show?) Not only are we now set up for a battle between the prison gang and Woodbury, we have a kidnapped-by-Merle Glen and Maggie, Michonne at the prison, and Andrea in the Governor's bed. A year ago right now, we were still looking for Sophia. Like, seriously — think about that.
First, we learned that — of course — the Governor was never going to let Michonne leave, just as she predicted. He sent out a search-and-destroy team consisting of Merle and three other dudes, and they quickly came across three chopped-up Walker corpses in the forrest. Michonne had left them Walker limbs in the shape of a G and an O, with a Walker back lying next to them. Get it? "Go back!" A biter-gram, said Merle. Seriously, Michonne is adorable. This made the youngster in their group — the newbie — metaphorically s*** his pants. Merle did not like this. "The Governor chose you because he believes in you," he said. Sick. Merle sees being chosen to be a killer as a very good thing — loving that, in this new world, he could hunt and kill with no consequences.
Michonne quickly jumped out of the trees, impaling one goon and beheading another. One of Merle's gunshots clipped her in the leg on her way out, but this wouldn't be enough to stop Michonne. Please. When Merle and the youngster had to take out their fallen friends. the ease in which Merle stabbed his only very recently dead friend's brain was jarring, and a reminder of how shockingly different the elder Dixon is from his brother, and everyone else in the Grimes Gang. Anyway, their little game of cat and mouse continued, and their second meeting's highlights included Michonne spilling disemboweled Walker guts all over herself. This later proved to be a very, very good thing, when a hoard of Walkers sauntered by without picking up her scent. We haven't seen that since Season 1!
After this attack, Merle realized that Michonne was a killing machine who was running into a Walker-infested zone. Going after her would likely lead to his own death, and she'd probably be killed by Walkers anyway, (Except not, because she was covered in their guts.) So, he decided to give up and head home, to tell a little white lie to the Governor. His youngster companion disagreed, so, you know, Merle shot him in the face. As soon as the guy expressed this opinion you knew he was a goner, but the sly, disgusting way in which Merle took him out proved that Merle hasn't changed as much as people have been saying. (And by that, I mean that he hasn't been as sneaky or, most noticeably, racist.) Human beings are completely disposable to Merle. Anyone on this show who admits to enjoying life post Zombpocalpyse eventually becomes some sort of homicidal, violence-loving maniac like Merle, which may spell trouble for one sort-of member of the Grimes Gang. (Stay tuned.) Michonne eventually found herself at the same shopping center as Glenn and Maggie, who were out on a food and ammo run. Unfortunately Merle found them too. Michonne listened from afar, realizing through their conversation that these were Andrea's long-lost people. Merle was psyched that Daryl was alive, and wanted to head back to the prison and see his brother, ASAP. Glen and Maggie, reasonably, offered to bring Daryl to him. This honestly sounds like a very fair, win-win deal, but it wasn't enough for psycho Merle, who put a gun to Maggie's head and whisked the couple off to Woodbury. Meanwhile, back in prison, things weren't much better. At the end of last week, Rick heard a phone ring. Unfortunately, it was just the voices in Rick's head, calling because they wanted to be used as a narrative device. Of course, Rick didn't realize right away what this was. In the first call, a female voice (the ghost of Christmas past) told him they were safe. They were away from them. Ah, a glimmer of hope! Rick cried, and begged: "We're good people here, we just need some help... We're dying here." Hot. Mess. This woman was offering Rick a chance at a post-Apocalyptic utopia, the one thing that everyone wants so badly, but can probably never have again. (Unless they're crazy, and enjoy life in Woodbury.) So, denial — that's the first stage of grief, right?
Later, a man called. (The ghost of Christmas present.) The man was Rick's conscience calling, so we could see that Rick was inwardly working through his issues that stemmed from having to kill people. "How many people have you killed?" the voice asked. Rick told the voice all of his reasons and excuses for his four kills. Cathartic. "Tell me how you lost your wife," the voice demanded. Rick wasn't ready to talk about that one yet. The voice hung up.
Eventually, Hershel came down to Rick's dank, self-imposed insanity cell to try to be an actual human voice of comfort and reason, saying that Rick was a good person, and that Lori had felt bad about her actions with Shane. He also mentioned that they should stay in the prison and continue to build a life there, since they'd run before and there was nowhere else to go. Rick told Hershel about the phone call. Hershel, to his credit, didn't tell Rick he was bananapants crazy. That phone was totally not on. Instead, Hershel said he'd stay and wait with Rick for the phone to ring. Rick refused. He hadn't signed up for group therapy.
Then Christmas Past called back again, wondering why Rick didn't want to talk about Lori's death. "You should talk about it, Rick," CP said. Rick thought this was interesting, because he hadn't ever offered up his name. (Are we at acceptance already?)
The final caller, Christmas Future, revealed herself to be Lori. Fake voice Lori told Rick that earlier he had been talking to Dale and Amy. At least in Rick and Lori's imaginary conversation, Rick was able to tell fake voice Lori that he loved her, one last time. Because, you know, he basically ignored real Lori for her entire pregnancy when she was alive. Again — cathartic, right? Fake voice Lori's finally message to Rick was that he had to get it together for Carl and baby Sophia-Carol-Andrea-Amy-Jackie-Patricia-Lori. Rick put his head down, and the call faded away.
Overall this "use a fake phone call to let us know what's going on in Rick's head" device was kind of an easy way out — and I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it. Of course I care about Rick, and Andrew Lincoln's acting was phenomenal, but I think the writers could have given us something better than this. After the final call, Rick emerged from his physical and metaphorical prison cell and rejoined the group, holding his newborn daughter and staring at her with a sense of wonder. What a fast turn around! If this "imaginary phone calls from voices from your past" method of therapy actually works, please do sign me up. Rick and his friends walked outside as a group, together, literally and metaphorically letting the freaking sunshine in. And they picked the right time, because as Rick walked to the gate, he noticed a still-alive Michonne waiting there, carrying Glen and Maggie's box of supplies. Elsewhere in the prison, Carl and Daryl had an adventure of their own. Glen Mazzara and co. pretty much have free reign with Daryl since he didn't appear in the books, and I'm convinced that they're purposefully making him the swoon-worthy redneck Ryan Gosling of The Walking Dead. Last week he held a freaking baby, this week he sweetly consoled Carl over his mother's loss. You know, since Rick had been totally incapable of hanging with Carl for longer than ten seconds since it happened. Be still my heart. The two forgotten sons traded dead mom stories — Daryl's having been burnt to nothing in a smoking cigarettes in bed while drunk incident, Carl's — well, we know what happened to Carl's. The worst part for Daryl, he said, was that it didn't feel real — she was there one day, and then she wasn't. No goodbye, no body. For Carl, this may have sounded like a luxury — it was real, he said. He ended her life himself. Maybe if Carl sticks with Daryl instead of Rick, he'll have a fighting chance at not growing up to be a psycho.
The boys ran into a few Walkers, and one of them had Carol's knife lodged in its neck. In another swoon-worthy moment, Daryl sat alone with the knife, and starting punching and stabbing the walls out of grief. Sexy. Then, in a rare stroke of luck, he removed the Walker and entered the cell its body was blocking —in it, was a weak but still totally alive Carol! Everyone called that, right? Finally, Andrea spent the episode continuing to make horrible decisions. Despite last week's disturbing display of brutality, she told the Governor that she wanted to contribute to the way of life in Woodbury by joining the Night's Watch and helping out on the wall. But Andrea wasn't cut out for this wall — she went through the training process with a pretty lady trainer, but when Andrea jumped off the wall and stabbed a Walker instead of shooting it from afar, her sensei freaked out. "This isn't a game," she said. Following the Governor's rules seems to be the number one priority for all of Woodbury, right? What happens when you break those rules? Maybe it's head in a tank for some people, but if you're hot like Andrea, you just get removed from wall duty and some hot, hot sex.
"I liked the fights," Andrea admitted to the Gov, as she received her sentence in his office. "I didn't like that I liked them." This was music to the Governor's ears. He had her. The pair flirted like high schoolers throughout the episode, with the Governor opening up to Andrea about his disappointing life before the Zombpocalypse. Of course, she just loved that. Ladies like Andrea love it when you expose your messed up, wounded, sensitive side. It's probably a mix of daddy issues and Nicholas Sparks novels. The Governor told Andrea that she didn't have to be ashamed of loving the fight (or, in other words, the kill), and that she was a lot like him. She had what it took. GOD, this guy can be charismatic. That's how he gets people to follow him, and how he got Andrea to go to bed with him. Sad.
So, what did you think of the episode? Did you like the phone call gimmick? Think Andrea and the Governor make a solid couple? Shout out in the comments!
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Summary

An imposingly-built character actor who specialized in intense, often dangerous characters on both sides of the law, Michael Rooker rose to prominence in the late 1980s as a psychotic serial killer in "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" (1986). Outfitted with an unwavering gaze and a granite jaw, Rooker was a natural for physically terrifying villains, but gave equally fine turns as world-weary cops, cowboys and tough patriarchs, all of which benefited from his dust-dry voice and uneasy smile. Rooker went on to tackle a number of memorable roles, playing disgraced Black Sox player Chick Gandil in "Eight Men Out" (1988), disloyal New Orleans prosecutor Bill Broussard in "JFK" (1991), and outlaw-turned-lawman Sherman McMasters in "Tombstone" (1993). For the remainder of the decade, he had supporting turns in a wide array of films like "Mallrats" (1995), "Rosewood" (1997) and "The Bone Collector" (1999), while in the new millennium he began having a stronger presence on television with guest spots on "CSI: Miami" (CBS, 2002-2012), "Numb3rs" (CBS, 2005-2010) and "Criminal Minds" (CBS, 2005- ). In 2010, Rooker was cast as racist zombie apocalypse survivor, Merle Dixon, on "The Walking Dead" (AMC, 2010- ), a high-profile role the multi-faceted performer eagerly sank his teeth into.